[MacOS] Lag/latency with Astropad/Apple Pencil Topic is solved

[vivok]

Hi guys,

First, thank you for producing such a wonderful tool for classical animation!

I have set up an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil connected to a mac with USB using the Astropad app.
Everything works quite well except when I try to draw quick curved strokes.
They appear angular and spiky (see the attached screenshot).
This appears only when drawing with rather quick strokes.

Other software seems to deal well with the same kind of strokes.
No problem in Photoshop, Affinity Designer, SketchBookPro and almost good in OpenToonz.
Also just fine is when trying the same with Wacom Intuos 4 (Driver 6.3.22-3).

I searched the forum for similar problems and found some proposed solutions.
However neither using a small window (¼ of the screen) nor fullscreen have worked for me.
I also tried disabling separate spaces for Mission Control with no improvement.

I'm using TVP Animation 11 Pro (11.0.6-64 bits) on MacOS Sierra 10.12.5 on a MacBook Pro with TouchBar (15-inch, 2016)

Please tell me if there is some setting to try and sorry if this is some sort of duplicate or known bug.

Best regards,
Velichko

[o0Ampy0o]

I believe the things you tried based on what you read elsewhere were Wacom specific, if I am not mistaken. At least I recognize them from posts I have read recently. Astropad, Apple Pencil and iPad are an entirely different approach using different technology than the concepts behind Wacom products. I use Macs and there are no drivers involved in using the Astropad/iPad Pro/Apple Pencil setup while there is when using a Wacom tablet or Cintiq. I don't know how Astropad works with the software we choose to use with it. I just think of Astropad as an interpreter with display mirroring while Cintiqs are actual tablet displays.

I am experiencing the same thing with an identical setup.

I tried various Line Smoothing settings. I did not see any beneficial results from that and latency increased with higher figures eventually to the point where the pen was so far behind it could not interpret the pencil movement properly. When I turned on the Pulled String option I think it revealed why we are seeing the arcs with abrupt changes and inconsistency.

I suspect this is happening because there is too much latency with the Apple Pencil and Astropad. The software is not keeping up with the Pencil tip. It lags then there is a slight burst to catch up.

Somewhere between the contact point of the pen tip/iPad and the computer/software responding there is an inability to keep up, an inability to read the input consistently and an inability to respond consistently. If it were only latency, drawing a smooth arc would only be delayed. But due to a drop off and surge you see the smooth arc take a sharper turn. The software is not receiving input at a consistent pace. It drops off then picks up again so the software does not receive tracking information until the pencil tip is further along the arc.

Turn on the Pulled Pencil option and draw a smooth squiggly/zig-zag line. Imagine the pace dropping off and surging. You will see that the pencil tip is going in a different direction once the software comes back on. Sharper curves seem to appear because the software is reading the current location of the tip instead of the path sketched out, or so it seems to me.

This may not be what is actually taking place under the hood but from my point of view this is what it appears to be doing.

[vivok]

I am experiencing the same thing with an identical setup.

What bothers me most and makes me think this is a TVPaint bug is that other software behaves just fine.

By the way you can see some measurement of latency and throughput from Astropad in the attached screenshot.

[Thierry]

Hello vivok,

I see that you are using version 11.0.6 64 bits.
Can you try with the 32-bits version and see if you still have the problem ?

Best,

[vivok]

Can you try with the 32-bits version and see if you still have the problem ?

Thank you Thierry!

The 32bit version works well.

Should I mark this thread as solved or maybe hope for a fix in the 64 bit version?!

--
Velichko

[o0Ampy0o]

Hello vivok,

I see that you are using version 11.0.6 64 bits.
Can you try with the 32-bits version and see if you still have the problem ?

Best,

Nobody cares about me...

...this worked for me also.

I hope this can be corrected in a small update soon. The 32 bit version only recognizes 2GB of my 32GB RAM.